The present invention relates to a kick-enhancing system for skis, a device for affixing a kick-enhancing covering, and a kick-enhancing covering for skis.
It is already known to place a kick-enhancing skin under the ski or to use ski wax in the form of a hard wax or a klister wax.
When a person intends to ski without using the skating technique, it is essential that the ski should have a grip against the snow in the kick direction. One way in which to obtain kick grip on a touring ski is to apply grip wax or use a skin under the ski. A well-known problem associated with grip wax, whether it is a hard wax or a klister wax, is that it is difficult to match it to the temperature and snow conditions, especially when these parameters change constantly from day to day, and even from hour to hour because of the warming of the sun or because of altitude or the nature of the terrain. Often, a skier will find that the skiing conditions change as he moves up or down in the terrain. Low down, the skier generally encounters wet klister wax conditions, whilst higher up he finds dry grip wax conditions. The result is well known: it is necessary to rewax the skis, which is particularly problematic if klister must be removed in order to apply a harder wax.
It is known that under certain competition conditions skiers have used a tape provided in part with a ski wax covering which was glued to the underside of the ski along the whole of its length, and which, when the ski wax was no longer effective under the prevailing snow conditions in the ski track, was peeled off to uncover a second wax under the tape or to allow the application of a ski wax which was more suitable for the prevailing conditions. Although such a solution per se was regarded as fascinating, it proved to be rather impractical in general.
An alternative solution has therefore been to use so-called “no-wax” skis, i.e., a type of fish scale-like pattern on the sole of the ski. Quite apart from the fact that such skis generate a certain amount of noise under some conditions, it is known that skis of this type are not immediately suitable for the endless, varying track conditions encountered during a trip.
Another known solution for obtaining satisfactory grip under changing conditions has been to use skins of synthetic fibres or sealskin under the ski essentially along the whole length of the ski, these skins having had an almost fur-like structure. Such skins can be found in a multitude of varieties. Skins of this kind give a good grip in most snow and temperature conditions, but the disadvantage is that the glide is considerably reduced, in particular because with the known attachment systems the skin must extend right up to the tip of the ski, or a strap must be fastened around the ski. Naturally, this may be found to be a problem in normal touring use where the terrain changes constantly from uphill to downhill. Today's known skin solutions also greatly reduce both the running and steering characteristics of the ski. The reason is of course that the skin fabric per se, as indicated above, has a detrimental effect on the characteristics of the ski, not least the gliding characteristics, but also because of the way such skins are attached to the underside of the ski. The known attachment systems are all located on the actual skin unit, i.e. not on the ski itself. Some of the existing attachment methods mean that the skier must ski with more skin fabric than necessary in order to obtain sufficient kick grip.